The Series (4/5)

When They Cry is one of the most interesting anime series to find it's way into my mailbox in sometime. The packaging describes the series as following a transplant to a small town Keiich, as he discovers himself in the midst of a disturbing mystery ingrained in the town's recent past. However, while that may be accurate to the point it sells short the series as a whole. To use a few non-anime reference points the series at times reminded me of shows and films like Twin Peaks, The Decalogue, Dead and Buried, and the Fog.

   When They Cry doesn't have a straight forward narrative as one might expect. It is a 24 episode season, that is broken down into multiple shorter story arcs.   The series involves a town called Hinamizawa, that has been cursed by a demon Oyashiro. Every year during the town's Cotton Festival bad and horrific things occur. The first series of When they Cry is broken down into 6 arcs following different characters, mostly young (though there is a short adult narrative set in the town's past). The arcs in the show occasionally have overlap with situations and characters from one appearing in the others.

   The show has an eerie small town horror vibe that I found very appealing. There is some solid violence and gore, fortunately in favor of the aforementioned atmosphere it is never overused. The animation by Studio Deen is stunning, and really compliments the overall feel of the show.   Because of the multiple narrative arcs, the show never really takes time to slow down and is never truly dull, and is always compelling.

UPDATE for Complete Collection (12/16/17)

    I knew that When They Cry had 2 sequel series (technically one full series and an OVA 5 episode series), however, after When They Cry ended I had felt satisfied enough that I was nervous to go back to what was near perfection. I am quite glad I did, however, as the show does not seem content to rely on past successes, and does not devolve into self-imitation. It goes into a different direction narratively (a bit), and tonally (quite a lot). 

    The series still feels like a creepy horror show, but because of the Groundhog Day-esque note of the first series conclusion, we are left with a town that is repetitive horror. This series focuses on a character Rika, who has been in town for all iterations of the violence and tragedy, but unlike everyone else can remember every bit of it.   This leads us through 2 story arcs, that involve her response to the memories she is having, and how they might be used to break the town out of it's eternal summer of death.

    The third OVA season is what happens after they escape. It is much different tonally especially first and last episodes, which have a more comedic tone. This one has Rika dying, but waking up in a parallel world, and her exploring that and being left with big decisions. The show is as scary as ever, but it uses more supernatural and suspense elements throughout season 2 and 3. Regardless,  When They Cry  comes out of the other end as one of the best horror animes I've seen in recent memory.

Audio/Video (3/5)

 When They Cry is a 10 year old anime series, and it does show a bit of it's age. That being it looks quite good. The 1:78:1 1080i AVC encoded transfer presented by Sentai Filmworks looks quite solid. Colors are reproduced nicely, and there is excellent detail throughout.

   The audio is presented in both English and Japanese DTS-HD MA 2.0 tracks and are both solid with dialogue and score coming through quite well.

    As an aside watching When They Cry on my much larger screen (100"), brought out the flaws more heavily on the interlaced transfer of the first 2 seasons. It still looks fine, and watchable, but it is far from perfect. Season 3 is progressively scanned, and is sharp improvement over the prior 2 seasons.

Extras  (1/5)

    Clean opening and closing animation. That's it.

Overall

    When They Cry is one of the finest horror animes of the 2000's.  The Blu-ray isn't the best quality, and has no extras, but the show is brilliant. RECOMMENDED.